The University Interscholastic League (UIL) governs Texas public school academic, athletic, and music contests and is the largest inter-school organization of its kind in the world (University Interscholastic League, n.d.a). The music division of UIL is an important part of music education in Texas, with over half a million middle school and high school students participating in UIL music events annually (University Interscholastic League, n.d.b). The link between socioeconomic status (SES) and general education and certain aspects of music education has been well documented. However, little research has explored the relationship between SES and music ensemble achievement in competition. The purpose of this study is to look at the relationship between SES and bands' UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest ratings. The 2011 UIL Region 18 Band Concert and Sightreading Contests were chosen for this study because the competing bands represented a wide range of SES. Raw data consisted of the UIL ratings for each band and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students from each school. For computational purposes, schools were organized into four groups according to SES, with Group 1 being the poorest group and Group 4 being the least poor. Group 1 (n1 = 27) consisted of schools with more than 75% of their students classified as economically disadvantaged. Group 2 (n2 = 49) consisted of schools with greater than 50% but less than or equal to 75% of their students classified as economically disadvantaged. Group 3 (n3 = 60) consisted of schools with greater than 25% but less than or equal to 50% of their students classified as economically disadvantaged. Group 4 (n4 = 37) consisted of schools with 25% or less of their students classified as economically disadvantaged. Data were analyzed by means of the Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance, comparing UIL ratings with SES. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the UIL ratings of schools of different SES. The Kruskal-Wallis test documented the following result: H = (3, N = 173) 44.53, p < 0.0001. Dunn's Multiple-Comparison procedure was then computed. Significant differences in UIL ratings were found between all groups except Groups 2 and 3 and Groups 3 and 4. When looking at all schools together, it can be seen that, although the ratings did gradually decline from the higher to poorer schools, these trends were not always statistically significant. This seems to suggest that extreme differences in SES relate to UIL ratings, while smaller differences do not show a significant trend. It can also be seen that the largest drop-off in ratings occurs with Group 1, the poorest group. [Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Texas Music Educators Association (San Antonio, TX, Feb 2012).]